ICE consists of three directorates to accomplish the agency’s mission, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Management and Administration (M&A).

ICE executes its mission through the enforcement of more than 400 federal statutes, and focuses on smart immigration enforcement, preventing terrorism and combating the illegal movement of people and trade. (read more)

ICE Newsroom

News Releases

Share

All News Releases

Search Help:

The displayed items are limited to the latest 1,250 news releases that match your filter criteria. Please try narrowing your filter criteria by date, topic or location if you do not find the news release you are seeking.

According to evidence presented at trial, MS-13 is a national and transnational gang with branches or “cliques” operating throughout the United States, including in Plainfield. All of the defendants were members of the Plainfield Locos Salvatrucha (PLS) Clique of MS-13.

According to court documents, the 18th Street Gang is a multi-national gang that operates throughout the United States and Central America, and whose members in the Boston area have had significant access to firearms in Boston and Chelsea.

The lead defendant in the 35-count indictment is Jose Loza, who recently became a full-fledged member of the Mexican Mafia and is the “shotcaller” of the Canta Ranas gang. In addition to implementing D.G.’s orders, Loza allegedly executed another member of the Mexican Mafia who wanted to expand his influence and challenge D.G.’s authority over street gangs in the San Gabriel Valley.

Carlos Geovanni Martinez-Aguilar, 38, originally of Mesquite, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to three years in prison and two years of supervised release. In April 2016, Martinez-Aguilar pleaded guilty to unlawful re-entry of a deported alien.

According to his plea agreement and court documents, from 2012 through at least 2014, Navarette-Mejia, known as Violento, was a member of the Normandie clique of MS-13. Navarette-Mejia and MS-13 members committed crimes to further the interests of the gang, including murder, assault, robbery, extortion by threat of violence, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and witness retaliation.

The indictments allege that members of the Latin Kings violently enforced discipline within its ranks and retaliated against rivals and former members to prevent cooperation with law enforcement. Its members and associates engaged in various acts of violence, including murder, attempted murder, assault with dangerous weapons, arson, and extortion, according to the indictments. The charges include the attempted murders of rival gang members and a Melrose Park (Illinois) police officer.

In recent court proceedings, defendants Milton Contreras and Jose Osmin Rubio pleaded guilty to murder of the 19-year-old victim, fellow gang member Sidney Valverde. In the past month, two additional defendants, Byron Lopez and Oscar Welman Espinoza-Merino, had also pled guilty and admitted their participation in the murder.

Michael Acosta, aka “Guantes,” 23, of Oakland, pleaded guilty in June to the charges, which stem from a probe by ICE's HSI and the Oakland Police Department. In pleading guilty, Acosta admitted that in January 2013 he conspired with three others to rob a jewelry store owner at gunpoint.

Miguel Zelaya, 22, an unlawfully present Honduran national, and Luis Ordonez-Vega, 37, a Guatemalan national, were both sentenced to life in prison Monday by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr. A federal jury in Charlotte previously convicted both men in April on conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity (RICO), murder in aid of racketeering, use or carry of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death.

Jaime “Tweety” Balam, 27, a Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang member from Mexico, was indicted in 2012 on murder and racketeering charges for his role in a shooting at a Daly City BART station. According to court documents, on Feb. 19, 2009, Balam was riding in a stolen car with other MS-13 members “hunting” for rival gang members.

Eric Antonio Mejia-Ramos, aka “Flaco,” age 22, of Hyattsville, Maryland, was sentenced today to life in prison, for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise known as La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, including participating in a murder. On January 4, 2017, Luis Guzman-Ventura, a/k/a “Casper,” age 23, of Hyattsville was sentenced to 360 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, on the same charge.

Guillermo Ruiz, known on the street as “Weasel,” 42, of Bell Gardens, was sentenced to 160 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald. The case is the result of a large-scale investigation into Bell Gardens street gangs by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

This combined effort led to two Indictments charging 49 members of two Bronx-based drug-distribution organizations with various narcotics, robbery and firearms offenses, including the murder of Jose Morales on Dec. 11, 2016.

Dequan Deshawn Willard, 22, pleaded guilty in December 2016 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine base and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Brothers, William Emmanuel Spence, 27, Jasmine Jamal Spence, 28, and Antonio Deon Ray Montgomery, 21, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base.

Among those arrested Wednesday are Giovanny Ochoa, also known as “Sporty” and “Speedy,” 26, of Hawthorne, and Aveline Villalba, also known as “Gordo” and “Fatboy,” 36, of South Los Angeles, who are charged with selling approximately one-quarter pound of methamphetamine in the fall of 2016 to an undercover agent.